ROBBIE SAVAGE believes he is playing the best international football of his career.

Savage has been a Wales regular since 1998, but reckons his last four games for his country - against Belarus, Argentina, Czech Republic and Germany - have easily been his best.

"Mark Hughes picks the team, but I believe the last four games have been my best for Wales," said the former Leicester player, now with Premiership new boys Birmingham City.

"I feel I'm an established Premiership player. I know I'm not a great player, and I'm no Pele or Maradona, but in every game I play for Wales I seem to get better and better."

The new season has started late for the colourful and controversial Savage - he played his first Premier-ship match 10 days ago in Birmingham's 1-1 draw at Everton - but he is confident of starting against Finland.

"I'm loving it at Birmingham. I was always confident a Premiership club would come in for me," he said.

"I was delighted Birmingham gave me the opportunity to stay in the Premiership because I think it's the best league in the world."

Savage missed the first two games of the season through suspension and was absent for Wales's trip to Croatia last month with a knee problem.

"My season didn't start until last week, but I think my last two performances have been my best for a long time," said the tough-tackling midfielder.

"I missed out on Croatia and that was the first Wales game I've missed for a long time. But I'm back now and raring to go."

The Blues lost their first two games of the campaign, but Savage's presence in the side has ensured four points out of the last six.

"It's immensely important we don't lose in Finland. In our last qualifying campaign, for the World Cup, we lost the first game in Belarus. When that happens you've got to play catch-up," he said.

"There are thousands of Welsh fans going to Finland for this game. It's about time we delivered and gave them a chance to follow us in a major championship. I think we're capable of doing that."

Wales are unbeaten this year, drawing three - against Argentina, the Czech Republic and Croatia - and beating Germany.

"The turnaround under Mark Hughes has been unbelievable," he added. "Look at the Croatia game - there were a lot of withdrawals but every player who was brought in knew their role and what they had to do.

"I know Finland lost 3-0 against the Republic of Ireland on the same night. In my mind there are no such thing as friendly games but they probably tried a few different things with the game against us in mind.

"I think we can get a draw or victory as I feel we've got players who can score against any team in the world.

"The Welsh public are expecting us to do something. That shows how much we've come on in the last year or two.

"We've got a good squad now. There's a lot of competition there. Whoever starts has got to perform to the best of their ability to stay in the side."

Wrexham-born Savage believes football has now overtaken rugby as Wales's No 1 sport.

"I think football has taken over from rugby. Before we were getting crowds of 4,000 or 5,000. Now we're getting 50,000 or 60,000 which is unbelievable.

"When you go out and about you can see all the children now wearing Wales football shirts.